Assembly candidates talk transportation, taxes at forum

Lisa Chamoff

Updated 11:09 pm, Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The eight local General Assembly candidates addressed some of the evergreen issues, such as transportation and keeping businesses in town, along with the more recent problem of trees crippling the power supply, during a forum at Town Hall Wednesday.

At the event, sponsored by the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, the town's Republican delegation spoke about members' experience working within the state Legislature, while the newcomers touched on backgrounds in town management and business.

Asked about changes they would make with storms consistently cutting power to much of the town for days, state Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-36th District, said that after Tropical Storm Irene and last year's freak October snowstorm, legislation was put in place that would financially punish utilities for not meeting certain staffing levels and targets for service restoration.

Democrat David Rafferty, who is seeking to unseat Fred Camillo in the 151st District, said it doesn't make sense to punish the utilities after the fact. Instead, municipalities should look into taking control of power distribution by creating their own utilities and holding the big companies accountable through competition.

"It puts competition directly in place of Northeast Utilities," said Rafferty, the five-term president of the Old Greenwich Association, a neighborhood group.

The forum was moderated by News 12 Connecticut anchor Tom Appleby, with questions coming from him, as well as a few Greenwich High School students and members of the audience, who wrote down their queries on index cards.

Appleby first addressed transportation, always a hot-button issue, asking the candidates which initiatives they endorsed to improve travel in Greenwich and Fairfield County.

Camillo said the emphasis should be on mass transit, and that in recent years there were discussions about corporate sponsorship of rail cars, which fell by the wayside after the economic crisis. That idea should be revived, he said.

"You have a captive audience there," Camillo said. "You can have a Coca-Cola car."

Rafferty, a former marketing executive, said that he used to commute into Greenwich by train, and that his employer had a shuttle to and from the train station.

"When my employer was able to help me along the way ... it made life a whole lot easier," Rafferty said. "We have to take it, as they say, the last mile and work together as a community and make sure everything's covered."

Democrat Daniel Dauplaise, who's running against Frantz, said he would work to help develop a bike-share program, an idea that has taken off in other cities.

"It's the most efficient form of transportation on an energy-to-distance basis," Dauplaise said.

"It's simply unacceptable to have so many bridges in disrepair and claim we don't have enough money," Walko said. "We need to make sure the dedicated funds are in fact used for what they are intended."

Along the same lines, the last question of the forum, which came from the audience, asked whether the candidates agreed with taking money from the transportation fund and spending it on other things. Most of the candidates said they thought the money should be used solely for transportation, while Democrat John Blankley, looking to unseat Republican incumbent Livvy Floren in the 149th District, disagreed.

"The idea of having revenue dedicated to one thing, no I think it's not the way to go," Blankley said.

Candidates were also asked how Greenwich could make sure financial companies stayed put.

Floren said energy costs need to be lower, the permitting process should be smoother, and there needs to be good transportation options and affordable housing.

Walko, speaking about his time on the BET, said the town has made Greenwich attractive with "moderate and predictable tax increases," and the state could retain businesses by doing the same thing.

"In my mind, we need more of that thinking in Hartford and less of the other way so we don't saddle our future generations in debt," Walko said.

Responding to a question from Appleby about possible changes to Greenwich's "friendly property tax climate," Democrat Stephanie Paulmeno, Walko's opponent, said it was important to note that Connecticut has the third-lowest tax burden in the country.

"I think that it's important to remember that our taxes pay for all the amenities and services we want," Paulmeno said.

Other candidates said they didn't support the "regionalization" of taxes, which would cause Greenwich to further lose its fair share of the state pie.

GHS seniors asked three questions, including one -- an echo of the first question at Tuesday night's town hall-style presidential debate at Hofstra University on nearby Long Island, N.Y. -- about candidates' thoughts on reducing college loan debt in Connecticut.

Most of the candidates spoke about the importance of making sure there was an environment for job creation in the state, so students had better prospects for employment when they graduated.

Blankley, who runs Flagship Networks Inc., an information technology company in Greenwich, said the company is looking to hire technical engineers, but is having trouble finding qualified candidates. He encouraged the students to study science and engineering.

"There are going to be good-paying jobs for you that will allow you to pay of off your college loans in due course," Blankley said.